May 22, 2009

{ Girls Weekend & The Garden I Wish Was Mine }

I took a little weekend trip to Utah {at my mom's house} last weekend for my annual Girl's Weekend. {That's a lot of weekends in one sentence} It includes my 5 sisters, 2 sis-in-laws & my mom. This one marked our 10th year!

We have so much fun crafting, shopping, talking, staying up late, sleeping in & just goofing around! Three days of no kids, no husbands, no responsibilities. It's awesome!

My parents moved into this house last year & now that the snow has, finally, melted they have been working like crazy making the yard useful & beautiful. This little spot is by their front door.

In this corner of the backyard, my dad put his his new shed. One of my sisters helped him stain-wash it so it wouldn't look so new & my dad recently painted the door green.

My dad, also, made this sign. I think it's so fun! He's an engineer so I'm sure that each direction is accurate & he notched out the wood to make it so. He's amazing!

My mom has collected some fun things through the years from thrift shops, garage sales, trash cans, etc. She is the queen of finding a diamond in the rough. Here she used an iron grate thingy {I know, good description} as a planter box.

This is my mom's collection of bird feeders/nests hanging in the tree. There's some homemade one's from grandkids, gifts from family & friends, thrifted ones, etc. Can you tell that everyone knows what my mom loves? It's very whimsical.

We girls bought my parents these garden bees to hang with her collection. They are made from wood with metal details. The eyes are my favorite. They are bottle caps with nails head pupils. Very cute! When we gave them to my parents we told them it was because they are "busy bees" in the garden. The one with the curled up eyelashes is my mom. {you may have to enlarge to see the details}

And speaking of the garden...are you jealous?!! I know I am! They have everything you can think of growing in their garden. Lucky! {said in a Napoleon Dynamite way}

And here's all 9 of us being goofy on the swings. You can't see it in this picture, but the post that goes across the top of the swing set is actually a huge branch from the tree in the neighbor's yard. It is awesome!

I hope you enjoyed the garden tour. Have a beautiful weekend!

May 20, 2009

{ Flu Tally }

4 down...

2 to go...

May 13, 2009

{ Guest Bath Redo }

I'm, finally, getting pictures up of the {almost} finished guest bathroom. Here is the before...

Remember, it all began when my sweet girl, Peanut, ripped off a piece of the red wallpaper.

My husband decided since we had to redo it, he wanted to get rid of the pedestal sink & get a cabinet for storage. We went to the Home Depot kitchen design center to order the cabinet. My hubby is 6'4" so he wanted it to be kitchen height. We couldn't agree on the finish. I wanted white, he wanted dark. We compromised. Here it is during...

Here's the after...

I found the rug at Home Goods. The cabinets have a dark glaze in the grooves. It's hard to tell in the pictures.

I've had this bird hook that I got from Target years ago. It works great for a towel holder.

I used the same mirror that was in there before. I like it even better now with the new cabinet. We got the granite counter top with sink attached at Home Depot also.

I got the light fixture from Lowe's. It was pretty cheap but, I like the simple look of it.

By the way, can you see the beadboard walls in my pass through laundry room? {click on picture to enlarge} The ceiling is beadboard too. I love it!

So I say almost done, because I still need to accessorize the two blank walls facing & to the left of the toilet. They look pretty bare right now.

My hubby & I painted, installed the cabinet, counter/sink, faucet & lighting fixture ourselves one long Saturday. It was fun to work on a project together but, it got me thinking that we should probably not go on the Amazing Race together...only kidding! :)

May 2, 2009

{ Backyard Love }

You know how I like...okay, need those deadlines to help me get things done. Well, we had a little dinner party last night which means I needed to get some things planted & cleaned up in the backyard.
Lowe's had some beautiful foxglove for a reasonable price & since I love them, I decided I needed to find a place for them in the backyard. They turned out to be perfect for adding a little height.


And I was, finally, able to use what I call my "sophisticated tiki lamps". I got them as a gift a few years ago. They are from Ballard Designs & I love them! They are beautiful lit up at night.


I love my backyard. It's like our little oasis. The last thing we need to do to finish it up, is to get a table big enough for our family of 6 to put under the patio cover so that we can eat out there. I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Have a wonderful weekend!